Financial Services Online

This work addresses the changes to financial services law and policy stemming from the passage of the Financial Services Reform Act 2001, and its effect on the Corporations Act. This development implemented stage six of the Federal Government’s Corporate Law Economic Reform Program (CLERP 6) and resulted in very substantial changes to financial services regulation in Australia. New commentary is provided addressing the main issues confronting all areas of the financial services industry. The central features of the new legislation are fourfold: it establishes a uniform system of regulation for all "financial products"; all providers of financial services are now subject to a single licensing framework. This encompasses any person undertaking sales, offering advice or dealing in financial products and will replace the various regimes currently operating in respect of different products; financial service providers dealing with retail clients are now required to maintain minimum standards of conduct and will be subject to specific disclosure requirements; financial product markets and clearing and settlement facilities are now subject to the same licensing arrangements. Additionally, relevant legislation and ASIC policy statements are included and extensively cross-referenced within the commentary. Other industry specific matters are all addressed within this work.